Does this sound too shady or is it worth exploring?

leinten

Hi,

first post so apologies if I’ve missed anything in regard to formatting or etiquette.

I have been verbally offered a part time job and accepted at the interview, subject to further discussion.

Having come away from the interview, I have started thinking over some of the things that were said and I must say, I’m starting to feel a bit jumpy.

It is a new business with very few staff so I know there’s the risk it’ll go bust but that doesn’t particularly worry me as it’s a part time position that I will be doing around other things. 

Where my concern begins is around the lack of clarity around hours and the fact I had to explain that minimum wage can’t be negotiated down since it’s the law. I had some questions but I didn’t get chance to ask them; it was very much an in and out appointment. It was essentially a 5-10 minute hot seat.

I don’t want to get into too much detail but I got the impression that they want two jobs doing for the one wage. My CV has some freelance and volunteer work that is in marketing/web design and we seemed to spend more time talking about what I can do in that aspect, rather than the job I applied to. I don’t mind helping out with these projects if there’s some free time but I was a little surprised when we got to pay requirements and they were looking to negotiate below minimum wage. Of course I said no and this didn’t seem to please the interviewer. I understand that a small business needs to keep expenses low but it did feel a little insulting.

Anyway, we got talking about hours and sure enough the job ad wasn’t correct. They aren’t actually sure what hours they are looking for. I said part time is what I’m looking for and it was left at that. 

I was then offered the job on the spot and agreed with the interviewer that we can talk about the formalities over the rest of the week. 

At the time I was of two minds, but I thought since I have nothing else on the table, there’s no harm in seeing where this ends up. 

Luckily, I’m not desperately in need of the money so I can say no and keep looking if it can’t be worked out. 

What I don’t want happening is me starting the job and getting their website all sorted, just for me to be let go shortly after. I’ve been had over in the past by people I trusted and I’m not keen to do it again. 

I’m not a website guru by any means, I literally build them on Wix/Wordpress and write the content, format it all and then link it to social media. I’ve tried making a go of this in the past but have struggled to find clients, hence why I’m looking for part time work in the first place. 

I suppose my question is: What would you do in my situation?

If I do progress forward, I will be getting the agreement in writing for sure.

Thanks in advance

El_Torro

You’re right, it does sound a bit dodgy. Especially if they’re asking you to work below minimum wage.

As long as you’re not leaving another job to go to this one then I don’t see a lot of harm in giving it a go. Worst case scenario is they let you go after a couple of weeks and don’t pay you at all. Not a nice scenario to be in, I know.

The other thing to consider is the time invested if you accept the job. Would you be better off spending the time looking for a job where the interviewers behave more professionally (to put it politely)?

theoretica

leinten said:

[...]

What I don’t want happening is me starting the job and getting their website all sorted, just for me to be let go shortly after. I’ve been had over in the past by people I trusted and I’m not keen to do it again. 

I’m not a website guru by any means, I literally build them on Wix/Wordpress and write the content, format it all and then link it to social media. I’ve tried making a go of this in the past but have struggled to find clients, hence why I’m looking for part time work in the first place. 

I suppose my question is: What would you do in my situation?

So negotiate an agreement where that is not a problem - where you are paid enough for sorting their website that you would not feel they owed you future employment for having done it.  Maybe this would be two separate things, ongoing employment and separately establishing the website. 

leinten

El_Torro said:

You’re right, it does sound a bit dodgy. Especially if they’re asking you to work below minimum wage.

As long as you’re not leaving another job to go to this one then I don’t see a lot of harm in giving it a go. Worst case scenario is they let you go after a couple of weeks and don’t pay you at all. Not a nice scenario to be in, I know.

The other thing to consider is the time invested if you accept the job. Would you be better off spending the time looking for a job where the interviewers behave more professionally (to put it politely)?

Thanks for the reply. 

I guess I’ll have to see how they conduct themselves over the next few days and go from there. 

If I do go ahead with it, I will be making sure that the hours/days are suitable. In the past I’ve just agreed to anything, even if it’s not a good fit for my other commitments. Only for it to bite me further on. 

There is a part of me that thinks my time may be better spent looking for a better job and developing a skill into a more employable one.

DullGreyGuy

Unfortunately the devil is in the detail, totally understand you dont want to share it but limits what help others can give.

There are some jobs that are so undesirable that as long as you can workout how to get to the interview and string together a sentence then you'll be offered it. I recall my flatmate applied for what he thought was going to be a call centre job doing inbound and outbound sales calls as the advert asked for experience of talking to customers, face to face or on the phone, making sales etc with a decent ontrack estimated earnings. His interview was 5 minutes and was offered the job on the spot and told to turn up at the office on Monday at 10am. 

Turns up, is given an ID card and told to get on the minibus waiting outside... wasnt a call centre job, was being driven to a random area, given a streetmap, a donation form and some info about a charity and you then had to go to all the doors in your sector on the map and try to get them to sign up to monthly donations to whichever charity it was that week. You had 5 hours or whatever it was to cover your area and get back to the minibus. If you hadnt finished in time then you were supposed to carry on and make your own way back but this was before widespreed access to mobile phones etc and so if you didnt know the area you could be stuffed. Was just before minimum wage too so was commission only. 

He did two days, got less than £5 for each day, day 3 it was raining heavily so he was AWOL from then on.

LeafGreen

If they were seriously trying to pay below NMW then personally I would definitely swerve.  No knowing what else they might try after you've started - maybe struggling to pay wages altogether, or trying to get you to work more hours for no extra money to get the job done.

lincroft1710

Not all cowboys wear wide brimmed hats and carry six-shooters. You've just met some who don't!

comeandgo

Are you really happy to work Web designing and marketing for minimum wage?  It sounds as though these people have no idea on employment laws and you could have problems with holiday entitlement and any pension or sick pay.  I would always go by my gut first instinct.

leinten

grahamgoo said:

If they were seriously trying to pay below NMW then personally I would definitely swerve.  No knowing what else they might try after you've started - maybe struggling to pay wages altogether, or trying to get you to work more hours for no extra money to get the job done.

That wouldn’t surprise me to be honest. I fell foul to this in the past. ‘If you put the work in now, this time next year we will be earning almost double’. Needless to say, there was no next year and the company closed shortly after. All false promises so that we would do short notice favours, work longer and for less pay. 

leinten

comeandgo said:

Are you really happy to work Web designing and marketing for minimum wage?  It sounds as though these people have no idea on employment laws and you could have problems with holiday entitlement and any pension or sick pay.  I would always go by my gut first instinct.

It’s certainly a worry. My last marketing and web design work was for a non profit but I didn’t mind since nobody was getting paid and it was for a good cause. Don’t think I can say the same this time around. 

The last thing I need is starting and having a nightmare with tax. Been there, done that, had the headache all before and it was a pain in the backside lol

The more I talk about it, the more I start feeling jittery.

thanks for the reply

Marcon

leinten said:

comeandgo said:

Are you really happy to work Web designing and marketing for minimum wage?  It sounds as though these people have no idea on employment laws and you could have problems with holiday entitlement and any pension or sick pay.  I would always go by my gut first instinct.

It’s certainly a worry. My last marketing and web design work was for a non profit but I didn’t mind since nobody was getting paid and it was for a good cause. Don’t think I can say the same this time around. 

The last thing I need is starting and having a nightmare with tax. Been there, done that, had the headache all before and it was a pain in the backside lol

The more I talk about it, the more I start feeling jittery.

thanks for the reply

Sometimes reading your own posts can provide your own answer, too! Read your first post and think how you'd react if you saw someone else posting that string of red flags...